Although the powerful character of the king is almost always on display in the characters of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, the audience is sometimes introduced to the inner workings found. in the deepest recesses of every monarch's mind. The reader and ticket payer are both stunned by Henry Bolingbroke's warlike audacity, but are then privy to his more "feminine" methods of calculation as a manipulative individual. In contrast, the public perceives Richard II as proudly claiming to be the God-sanctioned emperor, but when alone and deposed, he becomes despondent and complains about his status as king. In line with his two predecessors, Henry V also appears as two different people depending on the situation; at the same time, Harry is the accomplished warrior aristocrat, but when alone, he only desires the simple life of a commoner. In the plays Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, the notion of “monarchical reflexivity” is integral to how each king is perceived by his subjects and, extra-textually, by his audience. It would be easy to declare Richard II a weak fool, too absorbed in his own despair to facilitate an escape or defense, and to dismiss him as an aberration of English royalty; in reality, however, his weakness is indicative of a more fascinating relationship between the man and his role as king. We also see that the next two rulers, Henry IV and Harry, both found within themselves aspects of a seemingly conflicting dichotomy between mortal man and immortal notions of kingship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Richard II and Henry V seem outwardly, based on their behavior and achievements as kings, almost opposites. Henry V is an astute warrior and diplomat – he is the ultimate valiant knight, while Richard II is a clandestine traitor. As a character in the play, it would be remiss to make a comparison between the two, but the audience is fortunate to know that in fact the two are more closely related than initially thought. As Richard II provides Bolingbroke with the crown in Richard II, he laments his position as a newly deposed monarch and complains in characteristic fashion. Surprisingly, however, he offers no acts of defiance; here, Richard does nothing that would make the audience believe that he still desires to be king. In fact, his speech at Bolingbroke's ironic coronation implies that being king promises nothing but emptiness. Richard says: "Now this golden crown is like a deep well / which must have two buckets filling each other", that is to say that by lowering one king, another king will be exalted in the monarchical position (4.1.174-5). He goes on, however, to say that "the emptier one always dances in the air, / the other below, invisible and full of water" (4.1.176-7). According to Richard, as one man goes deeper into the well, another rises and sits at the top – oddly enough, however, it is the emptier bucket that will eventually reach this first position. It seems to the reader that being crowned king will not manifest all one's greatest joys and desires; in fact, Richard says the opposite. Unlike the empty role of king, as a fallen monarch he will be "full of tears" and, ironically, seems proud that he can still remain "the king of these" (4.1.178, 183). Later in the scene, Richard chooses to describe his royal effects in rather surprising terms. He leaves the “heavy weight of my head” as well as the “cumbersome scepter” with Bolingbroke instead of trying to keep the ornaments for himself (4.1.194, 195). He iscounter-intuitive that the public would see a king physically dethroned in such a light-hearted manner and not at least be disgusted; Shakespeare certainly realizes this and relies on his audience to reflect after the play is over. Perhaps, since Richard does not fight, he really finds kingship empty and fully resigns himself to rejecting it. In a scene that curiously reflects the sentiments expressed by the dethroned Richard II, Henry V's audience is introduced to Harry who, echoing his predecessor, notices the emptiness of being king. Harry, disguised by the cloak of Erpingham as a common soldier, declares to John Bates: “I think the king is only a man, like me. Violet smells to him as it does to me; the element shows him what it shows me” (4.1.99-100). The ensuing speech serves two purposes: firstly, it provides the audience with an amusing trick that the king plays on his soldiers, secondly and more importantly, it acts as a mirror to Harry's mind. For once, he doesn't have to appear brave, strong or cunning, he can just say what he thinks. This part of the text distinguishes Harry from his role as leader of Britain and sheds a different light on this character as "but a man" (4.1.102). Just as Richard II finds his crown heavy and his scepter “cumbersome,” Harry also finds the pomp and ceremony of kingship stifling. He states that a king's true emotions must be barred and stifled, because although he feels fear, the king cannot "possess him with an appearance of fear, lest by showing it he should discourages his army” (4.1.106-8). Later in the same scene, the audience is presented with the most striking example of royal dissatisfaction. While Richard's apparent distaste at being a monarch can be said to stem from the unpleasant circumstances surrounding the end of his reign, we cannot so simply dismiss Henry V's apprehensions. After the soldiers have left, Harry continues to question the role and responsibility of the king and wonders: "What infinite sorrow must kings overlook that private men profit from?" (4.1.219-20). He decides that kings have the same depressing fate as common men, with the exception of the "idol ceremony" (4.1.222). The king wonders what purpose this ceremony serves when he “suffers more / with mortal sorrows than your worshipers” (4.1.223-4). Towards the end of his speech, Harry declares that neither "the balm, the scepter, and the ball", nor "the tide of pomp" or "the thrice magnificent ceremony" could give the king the ability to "sleep as soundly as possible ". the miserable slave” (4.1.242, 246, 148, 250). It appears that Harry is echoing views expressed by his predecessor Richard II at, oddly enough, completely opposite times during their reign. Harry, on the eve of a great military victory, is lamenting his position as an unrivaled conqueror while Richard II mourns the uselessness of royalty at the time of his dismissal. Although Richard II and Harry had particularly serious doubts about the role and value of the English king, Henry Bolingbroke presents a different side to the king versus man dichotomy. Although his son mocked the royal position by describing him simply as a man dressed in ceremony and pomp, Henry IV believed that this was actually what made royalty so admirable. As the two discuss his inevitable ascension to the English throne in the middle of Henry IV's first part, Henry IV broaches the subject of his relationship with his subjects. While Harry resents the ceremony and the separation of the mortal human and the immortal notion of the English sovereign by divine right, it is this dichotomy that Bolingbroke delights in. He despises Richard II for allowing himself to become "so banal in the eyes of men, so.